PT’s Hay wins gold again
Abby Hay captured her second gold medal during the WPIAL Class AAA swimming championships by winning the 500-yard freestyle event. The Peters Township freshman also led off the 400-yard free relay, which took 10th overall. The Lady Indians finished seventh in the team standings while North Allegheny took the title with 348.
Peters Township freshman Abby Hay does the backstroke leg during the 200-yard IM Thursday at the WPIAL Class AAA swimming championships at Pitt’s Trees Pool.
Peters Township freshman Abby Hay has made an immediate impact on the local swimming scene.
Hay won her second gold medal in as many days at the WPIAL Swimming & Diving Championships at Pitt’s Trees Pool.
Hay won the Class AAA girls 500-yard freestyle Friday to go with her victory Thursday in the 200-yard individual medley.
Hay won in five minutes flat, beating runner-up Abby Matheny of Upper St. Clair by 1.37 seconds.
The results for Peters Township swimmers, with the exception of Hay’s victory in the individual medley, printed in Friday’s edition were incorrect. The PT girls 200 medley relay squad finished in fifth place with a school-record time of 1:48.52. The team was composed of Olivia Yocca, Loeva Palu-Benson, Hay and Abbi Strennen. The boys medley relay team, which included Stephen Hopta, John Martin, Mitchell Golias and Jake Rose, finished in sixth place with a time of 1:36.27. The boys 200 freestyle relay of Golias, Rose, Paul Luniewski and Benon Brewer finished seventh (1:29.0).
On Friday, Hay led the Indians’ girls team that produced a pair of top-5 finishes. Palu-Benson swam to a fourth-place finish (1:06.25) in the 100 breaststroke. Kayla McClintock was 22nd and Yocca 31st in the 100 backstroke, and Strennen was 39th in the 100 freestyle. The Indians’ 400 freestyle relay team of Hay, Strennan, Yocca and Palu-Benson placed 10th.
In the boys races, Hopta led PT Friday with a pair of fifth-place finishes, in the difficult combination of the 500 freestyle (4:38.97) and 100 backstroke (52.34).
Golias and Ross finished 16th and 19th respectively in the 100 freestyle, Kevin Martin was 19th and Brewer 23rd in the 500 freestyle, Harrison Nix was 28th in the 100 backstroke and John Martin led three Indians who had top-30 finishes in the 100 breaststroke. Martin was 16th, freshman Bert Wang was 23rd and Luniewski 26th.
Brewer, Golias, Hopta and Luniewski gave PT an eighth-place finish in the 400 freestyle relay.
Canon-McMillan had another strong performance Friday in Class AAA. After breaking a 41-year-old school record in the Class AAA boys 200 medley relay Thursday, the Big Macs had three top-10 finishes and broke two school records. Brittany Byer led C-M by placing seventh (52.83) in the 100 freestyle, breaking her own school record set last season. Teammate Maria Montuoro was 18th in the same event.
Tuner Gill placed eighth in the boys 100 freestyle (47.66) and Cody Stewart set a school record when he swam to a 10-place finish in the 500 freestyle. His time of 4:48.74 broke his own school record set this season by 12 seconds.
The Big Macs’ Jack Viviano was 38th in the 100 backstroke (1:00.75), Emily Georgetti placed 23rd in the girls 100 breaststroke (1:10.82) and Emily Suic was 32nd in 1:13.00.
The Canon-McMillan girls 400 freestyle relay team placed 28th and the boys 400 freestyle relay team finished in 24th place.
Trinity did not have a top-10 finish in Class AA but the Hillers did have some strong performances. In individual events, Zach Harvey was 29th in the 100 butterfly (1:01.08). The Hillers’ boys 200 medley relay team of Sam Halulka, J.P. Ross, Zach Harvey and Robert Quinn placed 19th, touching in 1:52.00. Trinity was 26th in the girls 200 medley relay (2:03.35) with a lineup of Sage Miller, Julia Faust, Kiersten Walther and Mya Quarture.
Ringgold had five girls swimmers advance to the Class AA championships. The Rams’ best finish was by Sarah Noll, who was seventh in the 100 backstroke (1:02.30) and also placed 14th in the 100 butterfly (1:01.40). Kaylee Kaasa finished in 10th place in the 200 individual medley (2:18.35) and was 18th in the 100 butterfly.
Rebecca Noll had two fast swims, placing 12th in the 200 freestyle (2:03.81) and 15th in the 100 breaststroke (1:11.99). Taylor LaFlash was 28th in the 100 backstroke. Ringgold’s 200 medley relay team cracked the top 10 with a ninth-place finish and the 400 freestyle relay squad placed 11th.
South Fayette’s David Ewing had a top-10 finish as he placed sixth in the Class AA boys 200 freestyle (1:49.11).
Belle Vernon was fast in the Class AA boys relays, finishing third in the 200 medley and seventh in the 400 freestyle. The Leopards’ Robert Spekis placed sixth in the 100 breaststroke and Davis Mosco was ninth in the 100 breaststroke.